This consultation was published under
the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

This consultation has concluded

Download the full outcome

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Original consultation

This consultation ran from 5 April 2011 12:00am to30 June 2011 11:45pm

Summary

Seeking views on securing a more prosperous fishing industry with sustainable fish stocks and a health marine environment.

Documents

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If you use assistive technology (eg a screen reader) and need a
version of this document in a more accessible format, please email defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk.
Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

If you use assistive technology (eg a screen reader) and need a
version of this document in a more accessible format, please email defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk.
Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

If you use assistive technology (eg a screen reader) and need a
version of this document in a more accessible format, please email defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk.
Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

If you use assistive technology (eg a screen reader) and need a
version of this document in a more accessible format, please email defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk.
Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Consultation description

The consultation sought views on securing a more prosperous fishing industry with sustainable fish stocks and a health marine environment in the long term, which is set out in the Defra’s Business Plan as a departmental priority.

The proposals aimed to empower fishermen to take control of their businesses, plan for the future, and make best use of their fishing opportunities.

The key elements of the proposals included:

The ability to establish community quota models by fishermen and communities in areas that wish to safeguard a small-scale/community fleet.

The allocation of clearer, more stable and predictable quota allocation across the whole English fleet, using the existing Fixed Quota Allocation mechanism.

Safeguards to help retain fisheries access rights in more sustainable parts of the fleet (eg members of community quota groups) and prevent fishing rights becoming concentrated in the large scale fleet.

Some re-alignment of fishing opportunities across the English fleet, including that associated with consistently un-fished allocations.

The consultation was aimed at the fishing industry, coastal communities, and anyone else with an interest, including members of the public.

We would like to thank all that responded to the consultation both in writing and through attending the coastal drop-in sessions held around the country.

We published the Government response to the consultation on 8 November 2011, a link to which can be found below. In the Government response, we have outlined what the next steps in the process of domestic reform will be, including the establishment of a pilot group in Ramsgate to test a more regionally based management structure.

Results from this pilot and through parallel work with the industry will be used to inform the final package of reform for the under-10m fleet in England.